Personal Signature Loans and The Art of Borrowing

By Mark Lundersenn

So much of the junk we're facing in our world economy is thanks to the fact that for the last ten years or so the world chose to use - and abuse - the credit system. Smart borrowing is an art, and the world population (but especially we in the United States) have made an absolute mess of it. Our incomes couldn't possibly keep pace with our borrowing, we have all but abandoned the habit of saving for the future, and the current state of things is what we're reaping.

Residential real estate, and all the abuses on the both sides of the transactions, is the most glaring indicator of how ridiculous our country has chosen to behave itself with respect to credit and lending practices. A plumber earning $54,000 per year has no business borrowing $400,000 to buy a home; he'll never be able to to keep up with the payments. And now the taxpayers of the world, most of all those who have kept their mortgage current by not borrowing more than they could pay back, are footing the bill.

We have to do better next time, and doing better means using credit intelligently. Most of the time borrowing wisely means not borrowing at all, including avoiding personal signature loans and other quick cash borrowing tools. Stay away from them no matter what - even if it means taking a part time job to get by in the meantime.

Why not? Well, because these types of loans nearly always carry terrible interest rates and bad terms. If you choose to borrow cash in this way you can end up paying in excess of 100% interest as well as hundreds of dollars in fees. How could that ever be a smart move?

It's really never a SMART move, but there may be circumstances in your life when it becomes absolutely necessary to borrow money this way. For example, let's say that one morning you pull into your parking space at the office and you accidently dent your boss's car. And he fires you.

In spite of how unfair the firing is, there may not be a whole lot you can do about it. What are you going to do - sue him? The reality is that in a lawsuit, nobody wins. And how are you going to pay a lawyer anyway?

So with no job, and the bills stacking up, and no family or friends to lend you some money to get you buy, the only choice might be to go to your bank and ask for a signature loan. You see, your mortgage lender isn't going to cut you a break just because your boss unfairly terminated you.

Here's my advice: borrow the absolute minimum you need to get by until you and secure a new job and your next paycheck. And take any job you can get - in this economy we can't really afford to get greedy or picky when it comes to making a few bucks. For the next few years it's in all of our best interest to do whatever is (legally and ethically) necessary to feed our families and keep our bills paid.

About the Author:

Internet loan seekers should check out Mark's site for information on finding unsecured signature loans if they want to secure a signature loan online for short term loans.

How To Improve Credit Score

By John Cooper

To improve your credit score can seem like an impossible task. The scoring model seems to factor in tons of information and makes it seem as if you have no control over your score.

This is incorrect. If you take a few steps you can positively influence your credit score.

1. Dispute and remove negative items on your credit report. This can be done yourself or you can hire a service to do it on your behalf.

2. Pay off any verified bad credit item on your report. In exchange for your payment have the lender remove the item from your credit report.

3. Pay your bills on time. It is alleged that missing one monthly payment can cause your score to drop by up to 50 points.

4. Open a new credit line. This is best if it is a revolving line of credit, for example an unsecured credit card.

This will also help you build a positive payment history by paying your monthly bill. However if you can not qualify for an unsecured credit card then open a secured card, but make sure it reports to all 3 bureaus.

In addition by keeping your balance at approximately 10% of the credit limit it will build the most credit. This shows that you use your credit and use it responsibly.

5. Pay your large debts down. This is called your available credit to debt. The bureaus need to see that you are not in over you head and that you do have credit that is not being used.

These are the only factors you should focus on when improving your credit score. There is one last tip that is surrounded in controversy.

6. Piggyback credit, this is when you are added as an authorized user to a good credit card account. The benefit is this account is now reported on your credit report.

This tactic was widely abused and the scoring model has made some changes. It is said to have removed the benefit however it is debated as to if those changes have taken place yet.

In sum if you can take care of steps one through five then you will improve your score. With a high credit score your quality of life will also improve.

About the Author:

To learn more about how to remove a charge off or for a free credit repair letter visit us.

Understanding Credit Score Ratings

By William Blake

It is important to improve or protect your credit scores. To do this you have to have some knowledge of where this number comes from. It is a complex system that is used to determine a persons credit scores. But it is helpful to try to understand it.

How Credit Scores are Composed

Many factors go into to composing your credit score. Credit companies review your entire financial history, looking at what debts you have had and your record of payment. They look at the amount of debt you have. Having a lot of debt will bring your credit scores down. They also look at how much credit history you actually have. If you are just beginning to build your credit you will have a lower score until they have more information to evaluate.

Other Factors That Affect Your Score

Credit companies also want to see how much credit you are applying for. If you have filled out a number of credit card applications this will reflect poorly on your credit report. Also having a lot of outstanding debt with large balances and/or high rates of interests will bring your credit scores down.

What Is a Great Score?

En excellent credit score is anything above 700. With an excellent credit score you will be offered the lowest interest rates possible for any loan you apply for. A rating of 650, while not excellent, is not a bad score. You would want to improve it at all possible. If your score is between 450 and 650 this is considered a low credit score and you really need to try to improve it. More than likely you will not be able to obtain an unsecured loan. All loans that you apply for will require some sort of collateral. If your scores are below 450 it will be almost impossible for you to obtain any type of loan or credit. You will need to seek the help of a financial counselor and begin to work to improve your credit score.

Get the Help You Need

There is help available for you when you are looking to improve your score. There are places that will offer free credit counseling. They will show you ways to get your score increased and help you be more responsible in your financial decisions. Getting the help now with your score will get you on track faster.

About the Author:

Can cancelling a credit card help you get your debt paid off faster? Get the inside scoop on the Debtopedia website at http://www.debtopedia.com where you can get a free copy of my report Secrets Of Credit Card Debt

Home Business Loans

By Jimmy Johnson

How often, on the daily commute to work, have you found yourself wondering what it would be like to work from home? To be able to use this wasted traveling time and the monetary cost of commuting in ways that would allow growing your own business and making it work best for you. Fitting in with child care and personal commitments, allowing you to give real time to home life yet being on hand to give your business idea the time and input it needs to make it really successful.

These Home business loans are not formulated as other sorts of funding for business as the loan is set up to be specifically for use in creating a business from ones home. That means that the premises from where the company will be run is already in existence so that land and property costs are not involved. It may be that certain changes may be needed to adapt home areas or provide equipment that may be necessary but the terms of the loan will be clear on how the money can be spent.

Start up capital can be hard to come by and home business loans can often make sure that the companies are able to start successfully. It is very helpful for almost everyone involved in the situation to be able to rely on the money that will help with the business and make sure that the investment is capable of being made.

With home business loans, people do not have to worry about where the start up capital and money for their own businesses. This helpful aspect is not just helpful to the people that need the home business loans. Additionally, they help the financial institutions that hand out the home business loans.

These establishments get the money that is accrued in the form of interest on the loans. In the end, everyone is able to benefit from home business loans, as long as the individual that takes out the loan is able to pay back the loan.

About the Author:

Jimmy Johnson is an accomplished niche website developer and author. For more about Start your Business visit Home Business Loans for informative articles and discussions.

How to Get out of debt

By JR Rooney

Debt elimination involves three steps:

1. Stop acquiring new debt.

2. Establish an emergency fund.

3. Implement a debt snowball.

Here's how to approach each step.

Stop acquiring new debt (This step can be accomplished in a morning.)

This may seem obvious, but the reason your debt is out of control is because you keep adding to it. Stop using credit. Don't finance anything. Cut up your credit cards.

That last part may be tough. Don't make excuses. I don't care that some personal finance sites say that you shouldn't cut them up. Destroy them. Stop rationalizing that you need credit cards.

* You don't need credit cards for a safety net. * You don't need credit cards for convenience. * You don't need credit cards for sky miles.

You really don't need credit cards at all. Credit cards are like quick sand, the more your struggle, the deeper in debt you go. Later, when your debts are gone and your finances are under control, maybe then you can get a credit card. (I don't carry a personal credit card. I don't miss having one.)

After you cut up your cards, stop all recurring payments. If you have a gym membership, cancel it. If you automatically renew your online video game account, cancel it. Cancel anything that automatically charges your credit card. Stop using credit.

Once you've done this, call every credit card company that you just killed. Do not cancel your credit cards (except for those with a zero balance). Instead, ask for a better deal. Find an offer online and use it as a bargaining wedge. Your bank may not agree to match competing offers, but it probably will. It never hurts to ask.

Establish an emergency fund (This step will probably take several months.)

For some, this is counter-intuitive. Why save before paying off debt? Because if you don't save first, you're not going to be able to cope with unexpected expenses. Do not tell yourself that you can keep a credit card for emergencies. Destroy your credit cards; save cash for emergencies.

How much should you save? Ideally, you'd save $1,000 to start. (College students may be able to get by with $500.) This money is for emergencies only. It is not for beer. It is not for shoes. It is not for a Playstation 3. It is to be used when your car dies, or when you break your arm in a touch football game.

Keep this money liquid, but not immediately accessible. Don't tie your emergency fund to a debit card. Don't sabotage your efforts by making it easy to spend the money on non-essentials. Consider opening a savings account at an online bank like ING or Emigrant. When an emergency arises, you can easily transfer the money to your regular checking account. It'll be there when you need it, but you won't be able to spend it spontaneously.

Implement a debt snowball (This step may require several years.)

After you've finally stopped using credit, and after you've saved an emergency fund, then attack your existing debt. Attack it hard. Throw whatever you can at it.

Some experts say to pay your highest interest debts first. There's no question that this makes the most sense mathematically. But if money were all about math, you wouldn't have debt in the first place. Money is as much about emotion and psychology as it is about math.

There are at least two approaches to debt elimination. Psychologically, using a debt snowball offers big payoffs, payoffs that can spur you to further debt reduction. Here's the short version:

1. Order your debts from lowest balance to highest balance. 2. Designate a certain amount of money to pay toward debts each month. 3. Pay the minimum payment on all debts except for the one with the lowest balance. 4. Throw every other dime at the debt with the lowest balance. 5. When that debt is gone, do not alter the monthly amount used to pay debts, but throw all you can at the debt with the next-lowest balance.

I'm a huge fan of the debt snowball. It still takes time to pay off your debts, but you can see results almost immediately.

Supplementary solutions

You can do other things to improve your money situation while you're working on these three steps.

First, focus on the fundamental personal finance equation: to pay off debt, or to save money, or to accumulate wealth, you must spend less than you earn.

Curb your spending. Re-learn frugal habits. (Frugality is something with which most college students are all too familiar.) You can find some great ideas on the internet. Also check Frugal for Life.

While you work to spend less, do what you can to increase your income. If possible, sell some of the stuff you bought when you got into debt. Get an extra job. (But don't neglect your studies for the sake of earning more. Your studies are most important.)

Finally, go to your local public library and borrow Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover. Don't be put off by the title - this is a fantastic guide to getting out of debt and developing good money habits. I rave about it often, but that's because it has done so much to help my own personal finances. After you've finished, return it and borrow another book about money.

The most important thing is to start now. Don't start tomorrow. Don't start next week. Start tackling your debt now. Your older self will thank you.

About the Author:

JR Rooney is an expert on debt andCollection Company. JR works for this Collection Agency

After the Chaos - What Types of Mortgages Remain

By Brian Anderson

The mortgage market and subsequently the entire US economy had a major meltdown in 2008. This originally stemmed from the subprime meltdown, and then the Alt-A lending collapse. As a result, the world financial markets have experienced a major credit crunch and this has resulted in a completely transformed US mortgage industry.

The past ten years have become a memory, with virtually every aggressive financing option no longer available. The only viable mortgage products remaining require full documentation of income, good credit, and stable employment. Wow....finally some common-sense in a mortgage world gone mad.

After the Subprime Disaster:

Before the financial crisis that destroyed the mortgage market, 100% financing loan programs were availalable to all. The only real requirement that existing in those days, were that you prove you were a US citizen. (non-citizens could only get 90% financing!). With credit scores in the high 500's, you could still obtain 100% loan financing. In November 2008, only USDA and VA loans offer 100% financing. FHA loans have removed their option to allow the seller to gift 3% to the buyer, so they are now capped at 97%. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac offer 97% options, but no 100% programs at all. If anyone tells you differently, they are giving you bad information.

The Alternative A credit market, also known as Alt-A loans, which used to offer very appealing niche loan financing products catering to borrowers with credit scores from 660 and up are also gone. These lenders offered loan programs to borrowers with scores down to 620. Aggressive programs, such as 100% no doc financing, were typically not available to borrowers below a 660 middle score. Today, even these seemingly viable products made to very strong borrowers have dried up. They were a victim of the global mortgage chaos that devoured the sub-prime banks and saw even the big 3 Automobile companies suffering and on the verge of collapse. Alt-A lenders had very liberal DTI ratios, reduced and even no income documentations, and the ability to turn any loan into an interest-only mortgage!

Aurora, GreenPoint, SunTrust, First Horizon, and IndyMac were leading Alt-A lenders during the mortgage boom of the last decade. Besides these, there were literally hundreds of banks and lenders that delivered niche products to strong borrowers. Unfortunately, many of these lenders are now out of the mortgage business completely.

Post Subprime Meltdown:

Over 300 banks and other mortgage lenders have either closed down or exited the mortgage business. All of the aggressive financing options that sprouted up over the past 8 years are now gone. We are back to FHA and Conventional loans only, with an added twist. The credit crunch is making it even tougher for a normal, gainfully employed borrower to get a loan. Credit score requirements are now in the low 700's, where before a 680 was sufficient. Cash-out refinance loans are very hard to get. Home equity lines are being reduced, or even closed by the lender. This is happening to qualified borrowers, not just customers with borderline credit and income. Additionally, investor financing is extremely hard to obtain, regardless of income or credit.

As 2008 comes to an end, mortgages are still very difficult to obtain. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have imposed stricter guidelines effective December 1st, 2008, that will further restrict the ability to obtain residential mortgages for most of us. There are tighter restrictions on the number of properties owned, more stringent credit requirements, and additional restrictions for borrowers who have had a past BK or foreclosure.

About the Author:

Before you select a mortgage loan, be sure to investigate Georgia Mortgage options from Anderson Lending Group.